Forget Me Not
by TheFreak11
Summary: Maximum Martinez; your average girl. She's lead singer and guitarist in a girl band called 'Queen Me.' She's mysterious and unpredictable. She's closed herself off; her past is nothing to be proud of. Will her new neighbour be able to get answers?FAX
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride. :D**

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"Iggy." I whispered, shoving his shoulder. He responded with a grunt and by burying his face into his pillow. I shoved him again, making his arm come out of the covers and flail about, searching for me.

"Go away, Max." He mumbled, finding my arm and whacking it.

"Iggy!" I said loader, continuously shoving his shoulder, making him grunt and whine even more. "C'mon Igster, it's time to get up!" He didn't move, so I backed up as far as I could go, and got ready for a running jump.

"No, Max." He mumbled again.

"You leave me no choice!" Then I'm running towards his bed, I jumped up and landed on him with a thud. He let out an 'oof' while he sat up and glared at me

"God, Max," He flicked his blonde hair out of his eyes. "If you weren't my twin, I would seriously beat you by now." He flopped back down into his bed with a sigh.

"When has that ever stopped you?" I joked, poking him in the stomach. "You know I'm tougher than you, admit it, go on, admit it!" I taunted him.

"Never." He replied with a laugh.

I start to wiggle his bed. "C'mon, Iggy, we both know it! Say it!"

He coughed as if he's about to say something important. "Max, my dear sister, you are…" He rubbed his chin in mock thought. "…a pain in my ass."

I slapped his chest. "Your a pain in everyone's ass!" I stood up and stalked towards his door. "If your asleep when I come back in," I point at him. "you will be having a nice, cold wash."

I strolled back into my bedroom and to my closet, trying to find some clothes for today; the first day of sophomore year. I rummaged through before I settled for a pair of black ripped skinny jeans, a navy blue t-shirt, a black hoodie and some high top converse.

So, if you hadn't of guessed already, my names Max; no, it's not short for Maxine, it's short for Maximum. Maximum Martinez. Anyone who ever calls me by my full name, will probably end up with a rearranged face. I'm sixteen years old. The kids at my school think I'm a Goth, but I'm really not. Just because I love converse, hate all that make-up crap and listen to different music to them, doesn't make me one.

I live in New Haven, Connecticut, with my adoptive father, Jeb, my twin brother Iggy and Jeb's two daughters: Ella and Nudge. **(A/N I'm not going to describe what they look like, because we all know their appearances. But I'm going to explain about Iggy and Max.)**

Me and Iggy, although we're twins, look nothing alike. He has strawberry blonde hair, while I have dirty blonde hair. My eyes are brown, whereas his are blue. He's over 6ft, while I'm only 5'8.

My childhood past… isn't the best one. I preferred to keep quiet about that. And so does the Igster.

I walked out of my bedroom and down the hall to where Iggy's bedroom is, I looked in and was greeted with a made bed. _He made the right choice, _I thought to myself smugly.

Stumbling down the stairs, I burst into the kitchen, grinning widely when I saw Iggy making my favourite breakfast. But I instantly closed my eyes once I saw what he had on.

"Get a shirt on, Iggy!" I yelled through my fingers.

"Why?" He tried to say, although it came out more like 'mmgnhm' because he had some food in his mouth.

"Oh my God! It burns! Help me!" I laughed. I turned around, picked up a shirt that was folded on the table and chucked it at him. I heard some rustling noises and decided it was safe to look at him again.

And it was. Thankfully.

Ella and Nudge weren't in the kitchen; that's probably why Iggy had his shirt off. Although, he wouldn't care anyway; he'd flaunt it in front of them. But they're probably upstairs choosing their outfits and deciding how to wear their make-up today, all that girly BS.

I opened the fridge door and pulled out the milk carton, unscrewing the lid and taking a big gulp. Belching, I put it back where it came from.

"Max." Jeb says with a sigh before going back to reading his newspaper. I grinned even though he couldn't see me; I could see his own smile behind the paper.

"Hey! Iggy! Hurry up! I'm hungry!" I told him while sitting down at the table.

"Yeah, yeah." He mumbled and continued to flip my bacon.

I reached into my pocket and took out my iPod, putting the ear buds into my ears and blaring the music. It was 'Teenagers' by My Chemical Romance. I had lots of their songs on my iPod, and lots of other singers and bands too; 2489 songs all together. I love my music.

Nudge suddenly burst into the kitchen with a grinning Ella behind her, they walked up to me and started talking; but I couldn't hear them, I was listening to music, so I nodded and they squealed. That's when I realized I should have listened.

I took my ear buds out and listened to the end of Nudge's sentence. "-that's so awesome! Thank you, thank you! Oohh, Ella, how should we do her hair for tonight? What should she wear? What colour? I'm thinking dark purple, she likes that colo-" I cut her off by slapping my hand over her mouth.

"What did I just say yes to?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"We asked if we could make you over for the gig tonight and you said yes! No backing down now!" Ella giggled and then ran out of the room with Nudge behind her.

I groaned and hit my head on the table. "You really should have listened to them, Max." Iggy laughed and placed my food in front of me.

"I know," I shoved some bacon into my mouth and huffed. "I'm going to look like a slut tonight at the gig." I finished of the rest of my breakfast, feeling miserable and tired.

But I forgot to mention.

I'm in a band.

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**A/N Hey, this is my first fanfic, I hope you like it. I promise it will be more exciting once I get more chapters in. Do you think it's a good storyline? Or not? And I promise there will be lots of FAX. I just have to introduce Fang, which will be coming shortly. Please review, I'd like to know what you think of it so far and if I should continue! **

**TheFreak11 :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Disclaimer: I do not own MR, JP does. I'm just a jealous little fan girl. :D**

I'm pretty sure, right now, that if there was any other motorbike in this schools parking lot, that no one would be crowding around it. But this one, oh no, this one was different. It was pure black – and I mean _really _black – it had lightning bolts up each side and it was _sparkling _clean.

"Whose is that?" Ella breathed from beside me.

"Probably the new kids," Iggy piped up for us. "The new neighbour we have."

"We have a new neighbour?" I asked, puzzled. You see, I'm not really up to date with stuff – I'm always concentrating on my band, 'Queen Me.' Yup, that's what my bands called. We're a group of girls – don't pop out the sexist jokes like Iggy first did – that consists of: me, guitarist and lead singer, Ella on bass guitar, Nudge on keyboard and our friend, J.J, on drums.

"Yeah, they moved in yesterday." Iggy said slowly for me, I whacked him in the chest and walked away with Nudge.

"I hope the new kids cute," Nudge channel = on. "He might be one of those geeky cute guys, but I doubt that one of them would have a hot bike like that. Maybe he's sexy! We need some more good looking people here, I mean Iggy's not bad, but he's, like, my brother. Just… ew. But he and Ella, oh Max! Look at them!" Nudge channel = off. For now.

I turned around to look at where Nudge was pointing; and there they were. Ella twirling her hair between her fingers as Iggy probably told one of his stupid jokes to her. And when he did, she freakin' _giggled. _At one of _Iggy's _jokes. She's got it bad.

Then – which surprised the hell out of me – Iggy reached out a tucked a piece of hair that had fallen onto Ella's face. It was the first time in a long while that I had seen Iggy with a loving emotion on his face, and Ella was giving him the same look right back.

You may be thinking, 'he doesn't love you? His own sister?' but I know he cares for me, as I do him. But this emotion – a person he loves in an affectionate way – I hadn't seen that emotion since…

You wouldn't believe how warm I felt when I saw that Iggy had finally loved something like that again. Crap, I'm talking about my feelings. Oh God, I'm coming down with something.

"We should go get our schedules now." Nudge pulled me along as I slumped behind her. "I hope I have classes with you and the others. I don't want to be alone, it's sophomore year! Oh, what if that hot guy is in our classes? Is he even a sophomore? I hope he-"

I slapped my hand over her mouth, affectively cutting off her sentence. "Shut up, Nudge." I glared at her while she pouted.

"Humph." She said under my hand, I just smiled sweetly and walked towards the office.

"C'mon, Nudgey-Wudgey," I called to her from down the corridor. "Let's just get this over and done with!"

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English. They had to go and put English as my first lesson. And, to make it even better, it was taught by Mrs Chapman. Me and her, we do not get along. Also, to make things even more fantastic, I'm alone in this class.

The seats were set out in pairs, and I was the only person who wasn't sitting next to anyone. They've learnt to keep their distance. As it should be.

The door was suddenly slung open as an unfamiliar guy walked in. He must be the new kid. He was damn… how did Nudge put it? Sexy. He was damn sexy.

He was dressed in all black, had black hair that flopped into his eyes which I had noticed were _black _too. The t-shirt that he wore showed off his abs that were underneath… keep your cool, Max. Keep your cool.

I looked around the class and saw that most girls had that flirtatious glint in their eyes, and I noticed that all the guys seemed to be jealous just looking at the new kid.

"Sorry I'm late," He said in a deep and sexy voice to go with his attire. "Had to talk to the principal."

You know what Mrs Chapman did? She smiled _warmly_ at the kid, like, meaning more than it should. And she never lets anyone off the hook for being late, even if they were actually speaking to the principle.

"That's fine," Her voice sounded nicer. "You'll be sitting next to…" She looked around at everyone before her eyes landed on my table. "Miss Martinez." I could feel the hate radiating off of her.

The new kids eyes made their way over to me, his face emotionless and giving nothing away. He quietly walked over to the seat and sat down, giving me a stare that I could feel on the side of my face.

"Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to stare?" I muttered to him dryly.

I saw him shrug out of the corner of my eyes. A man of many words.

"Wonderful, he's polite." I said sarcastically, I swear I caught a glimpse of his lips twitch, but couldn't be sure as he turned to the front.

"Before we start," Miss called out to the class. "I need to know whose here." Everyone stayed quiet, knowing that if they didn't, we sure as hell wouldn't get out of this classroom.

She rolled off some names that I couldn't be bothered to listen to, until I heard her say my own name. Well, not exactly.

"Maxine Martinez?" She called.

I didn't answer, I just clenched my fists.

Teacher sighed. "Maxine Martinez?" She said more firmly.

I saw the new kid turn to look at me but I didn't give him a single glance as I waited for the third time that my name would be called.

"Maxine Mar-" I cut her off.

"It's Maximum." I growled to her.

"Maxine, Maximum, answer to your name." She said, not interested.

"I'll answer," I ground out. "When you at least have the decency to say my name properly."

"Listen, Maxine," She started, I growled when she said my name wrong – she actually looked frightened but then regained herself. "We've had this talk year after year, I'm not going to call you Maximum."

"Then call me Max." My fists were clenching and unclenching, my hands going red from how hard was gripping them.

"Maxine…" I glared at her, my best glare, my death glare – it made her cringe away. "Fine, I'll call you Max." She huffed and I smiled sweetly at her – for the fun of seeing her get frustrated.

"Glad we agree on something." I smirked in her direction.

She nodded and looked back down at the sheet of paper in front of her. "Nicholas Ride?" She called out. The new kid answered.

"It's Fang." He said, I raised my eye brows and looked at him oddly; he just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Chapman.

"Okay then, Fang." Guess what she did? Go on, guess. She smiled! She bloody smiled! She had the guts to go out and argue with me about my name, but she agreed without complaint to call Nicholas, Fang!

"Why the name?" I whispered to 'Fang' as Chapman began talking.

He shrugged. "My little sister gave me the nickname when we were younger; I bit her finger." His lips twitched a little bit before completely going.

"What a nice big brother you are." I joked and rolled my eyes.

"The best out there." That little twitch came again and actually stayed there.

"I think you'll have to take my brother up on that one." I breathed a laugh as I thought about how Iggy wouldn't actually care. Well, I say wouldn't care, but he would be proud if he knew how much I owe him for his help.

"Maybe I will." Fang said, his lips turning that little bit more.

You know what; I think this was a start to a new friendship.

**A/N Okay, so, the people I replied to that had reviewed, I said I would be updating either tomorrow or Wednesday, but, I was just in a writing mood tonight, that I had to update. I hope you like the chapter, Fang is introduced. Please review, the more reviews I get, the faster I will update. Sound good? I think so.**

**Until next time…**

**TheFreak11 :D**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Disclaimer: I do not own MR, JP does!**

**And a thanks to my wonderful new beta… ISuckAtUsernames! :D**

Second period I had with Fang, along with third and fourth period. Yeah, he was in most of my classes; he also sat next to me in all of them – since no one ever dared to try and sit next to me. However quiet he was, I did discovered a lot of things about Fang throughout the lessons, which surprised me, considering it was so hard to get him to open his mouth.

I found out that he's mysterious and somewhat dark. Everyone was afraid to approach him – apart from me, of course, but that's because I'm Max; I'm afraid of nothing and no one. Well, maybe one thing… but that doesn't really matter.

Anyway, back to Fang. He's the usual silent type – sticking to head nods and badass one-shoulder shrugs – but I forced some words to come out of his oh-so-sexy mouth, whether he liked it or not. He told me quietly that he had a little sister called Angel, and a little brother called Gazzy – for reasons I do not want to know, apparently.

He moved from Atlanta, Georgia to here – New Haven, Connecticut – just the other day. His parents enrolled him to this high school before they had even made it here.

He lived with his mom and dad, Paul and Allison; they were either business people or something of that type. I didn't really understand what Fang had said since he was talking so quietly. Makes a difference from hearing Nudge speak all the time – thankfully she's not in my morning lessons. Neither are Iggy and Ella. But, considering all the mushy-gushy goo-goo eyes they've been making at each other, it wasn't much of a loss for me.

I couldn't wait to introduce Fang to the others, knowing they'd all love him. Hoping that he himself would get along with them all, too. It's funny how you know someone for about 4 hours, and it already feels like you've known them your whole life – that's how it is with Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome and me, at least.

We had about 5 minutes until the bell sounded for lunch; I hoped that the time would whiz by, but every time I looked at the clock, tick tocking away, it had only been a couple of seconds. I started to get frustrated, tapping my pencil furiously against the desk.

I heard a huff come from behind me, but decided to ignore it. I knew the teacher was getting annoyed by the sound as his eye began to twitch. In the end, almost everyone in the class was trying to tone out the noise - without success.

A firm, rough hand suddenly landed on top of my own, stopping the tapping entirely and the sighs of relief filled the class. I looked towards all of them, and glared – they flinched back.

Then I remembered the hand on mine.

I looked towards Fang with a frown; he just gave me a shrug, taking the pencil out of my hand before turning to the front and acting as if nothing affected him. Idiot.

I shot up from my seat as fast as I possibly could as soon as that bell rang. I grabbed Fang's arm, dragging him down the corridor that was filled with hungry teenagers, and made my towards the cafeteria.

"Should I be worried as to what type of friends you have?" Fang asked quietly as we neared the double doors.

"If you're implying that you hope they're not as forceful as me, then no, you shouldn't be worried." I saw his shoulders relax. "But if you're not, then you should expect the worst." His shoulders hunched again.

"Great," he muttered, probably thinking that I wouldn't hear it. But I did.

"Fine," I sighed dramatically. "I'll reassure you that they're not that bad. Nudge, my 'step sister', has a gigantic motor mouth. Talks about anything and everything in one breath, maybe two if she's not that into it. She'll blabber on and on about something that you just don't care about.

"Then Iggy, he's obsessed with girls – a little bit too much – and he has a bad habit of creating bombs, unfortunately for me. He's my twin brother and such a hypocrite to me that it's almost funny to believe." Fang had no emotion on his face, but I could tell he was confused. "He tells me that boys are just pigs and that I shouldn't bother, but he still goes out and fits the description," I said, clearing it up.

"And Ella," I started up again. "My other 'step sister', she's basically the only normal one out of us all. Likes fashion, likes dressing people up, but other than that, she's pretty much not scary at all. Except that she has a crush on Iggy, which isn't very normal at all... Most girls know to avoid him. Last but not least," I said in a tacky voice, like a show host. "There's J.J, short for Jennifer-Joy. She's very…" I paused and tried to find the right word. "Spontaneous. Never worried about anything, just goes with the flow."

The way Fang was walking told me that I hadn't reassured him at all; I only made it sound like my friends were a handful – and they are.

"Oh, yeah," I spoke again. "One last thing; us girls are in a band called 'Queen Me'. We're obsessed with music and talk about it most of the time."

Only this time did he make a sound from the back of his throat to show me that he was definitely expecting something of a disaster; I'd prove him wrong. Maybe.

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I could feel the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria staring at me and the 'new kid'; they knew not to bother him or me. Iggy, Ella, Nudge and J.J were already seated at our usual table, giving me a curious look as they turned to Fang for a greeting as we sat down.

"Guys," I said, knowing Fang wouldn't say anything. "This is Fang."

"Hey Fang, I'm Ella Batchelder," Ella said sweetly with a cute little wave. "Hope you enjoy all the sluts and pigs in this school." Fang gave her a small but attractive looking half smile.

"Hey, man, I'm Iggy Martinez, the twerp's twin brother." Iggy held his hand out for one of those 'guy' greeting things or whatever. I knew Iggy already liked Fang by the way he wasn't eyeing him up to see if he was just another 'pig'.

"Hey, Fang!" Nudge piped up, and I almost felt sorry for Fang – but it was just too funny to not see the way he reacted, if he did. "Everyone's been talking about you! Like, they wouldn't even shut up! How annoying is that?" Oh, don't worry, Nudge, we know the feeling. Everyone on the table snickered. "You just moved next door to us, do you like the house? I personally think it's the best on the street, but no one listens. Oh! They have the angel cake today! It's been ages since we've had this!" Then she filled up her mouth with cake. Speaking with a mouth full, she said, "I'm Nudge, by the way!"

The tiniest amount of emotion flickered in Fang's eyes before they became like stone again. He was actually amused at Nudge's little talk

J.J hadn't introduced herself yet, so I took up the honours, knowing she was exactly like Fang in the talking department. "Fang, this is J.J." I pointed to her.

"J.J," he said quietly, inclining his head slightly. How could he pull that off? If I tried to do something like that, I'd look like an idiot... but Fang, _no, _he just _had _to look all hot and stuff.

"Fang," she said in the exact same tone of voice.

And that was that. One word exchanged between the two and I knew that they had accepted each other instantly. That's a first, seeing as J.J wasn't a big fan of making new friends – especially since she moved in sophomore year.

Nudge picked up a conversation with Ella about what I should wear tonight, Iggy tried to get some words out of Fang's mouth and J.J and I started talking about songs for the gig tonight.

Yeah, all seemed pretty well, except for the fact that Iggy just asked Fang to come to hear us all tonight; and Fang said yes.

Playing for the first time in front of strangers didn't bother me; it wasn't like I was going to see them again. But people I knew - someone I just met – it takes forever for me to be able to play in front of them – past experience… again, not much detail on that one.

I hope that bottle is still in the bathroom – I'm going to need it.

**A/N I hope you all like this chapter! I'm sorry I don't update sooner… but I have a lot to do over these next couple of weeks.**

**As you all could see at the top… I have a beta! Whoo! Go ISuckAtUsernames! She's absolutely amazing! Only one chapter she's beta'd for… and I know she's amazing! :D**

**Yeah, so, until the next chapter! (Which I hope will be coming out sooner!)**

**TheFreak11! **


	4. Chapter 4

I was on edge for the rest of the day, fidgeting and feeling as if something or someone was watching me. But every time I looked around, it turned out to be nothing. Of course. Paranoia to the Max. I was too paranoid after what happened at lunch; I needed to get home. And fast.

So, I'm sounding like a complete idiot, right? It's weird for someone to panic over something so little, but for me, it has a big impact on who I have become. Detail not to be included.

My fright of someone I know hearing me play isn't the reason I panic so much; it was what lies beneath it.

_The sound of soft singing drifted throughout the house, like it had done for the past two years. The sound was mesmerizing, enchanting – even the birds stopped to listen._

_The voice was gentle and loving, yet firm and determined, like the person singing, singing heartbreakingly beautifully._

_The smashing of bottles rattled down in the kitchen, and the people that caused the damage were raising their voices; they were angry and drunk. These people had totally forgotten of the children that lay on the floor upstairs, praying and hoping that someday this would stop completely._

_Still, the voice carried on; as peaceful and calming as it had started._

The tiniest of things bring back such painful memories...

Moving on… I literally burst out of the school doors by the time that bell rang. I really needed to get home and find them pills. Badly.

"Max! Max!" Ella called after me; I could hear her footsteps getting louder. "Why are you going so fast? What's wrong?"

My frantic expression must have alarmed her, seeing as, upon seeing me, she looked shocked. And concerned. "I need to go, Ella, I need to get home," I gasped.

"Just breathe, Max, it's going to be okay," she soothed me, touching my arm gently.

"Ella," I said with warning. "I _really _need to go."

"Fine, fine." She began to search the parking lot with her eyes, trying to see if Iggy or Nudge had come out yet. It was then I realized I hadn't said a goodbye or anything to Fang. I didn't tell him why I rushed out.

"Ella, tell Fang I said I'm fine and I'll see him tomorrow. Let me go." I tried wriggling out of her death grip. "Before I do something stupid or embarrassing."

"Okay. I'll tell the others when they come out." I sent her a thankful look, before rushing over to my car.

_Breath, Max. _That's what I wished I kept telling myself, but, sadly, it was more like this:

_Come on, idiot! Get yourself together! Just because you may have a panic attack while driving down the freaking busiest road in New Haven _doesn't _mean you have to act _weak_!_

My brain is hardwired to put myself down in situations like this; isn't it just fantastic? Note. The. Freaking. Sarcasm.

Damn you, M-

I parked my car in the garage, slamming the door and forgetting to lock the thing because I was in such a hurry.

I rushed into the living room where I knew Jeb would be sitting, watching the football. His head shot up as soon as he heard me pounding into the room.

"Max?" He immediately came towards me, concern painted across his face. "Max, what's wrong?"

"The pills," I coughed, around my panicked, laboured breathing. "Where are they? Have we still got them?"

His face showed recognition as soon as I mentioned the word 'pills.' He hastily ran to the downstairs bathroom, I heard clunking and a few curses coming from Jeb's mouth before he appeared in front of me with two tiny pills.

I swallowed them dry, before sinking down the wall resting my chin on my knees.

There was only one thing that could bring Maximum Martinez down, and that was any type of reminder to her past.

"Max." Jeb's gentle voice filled my ears. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." My voice cracked slightly, but I gave a cough and made my voice sound clearer and firmer. "I'm fine." _Liar, liar, pants on fire._

"I know you don't like breaking down in front of people-" I opened my mouth to object, but Jeb held a finger up to silence me. "Hear me out. You can't act brave all the time, Max; we all know you're hurting."

"I'm not hurting anymore, Jeb." Like he's going to believe that. I didn't even believe it. "This was just a one off."

"Max –" He was cut off, again, by the front door slamming open and heavy footsteps coming towards us.

"Max?" Iggy's concerned voice rang out; he appeared at the door frame, his familiar blue eyes looking down on me. "Max," he repeated softly. I could hear Nudge and Ella getting there stuff out of the car.

"I'm alright, Iggy," I told him, in my most convincing voice. I wanted to get out of there before the girls came in - before I was put through Nudge's version of the Spanish Inquisition.

"But, Max-"

"I said I'm fine!" I knew my voice was rising. But I couldn't stop - I didn't want to, not really. "Can't you all just leave me _alone_?"

I stood up, brushed past everyone and made my way up to my personal sanctuary. Everything about this room calmed me; the colour, the smell, just the way it looked. It didn't bring back any bad memories – nothing made it haunting.

Feeling defeated and fed up, I flopped down onto my bed and closed my eyes, wishing that the torture of the past would just go away as I fell asleep.

* * *

"No," I told Nudge firmly, crossing my arms over my towel-covered chest. Once I had woken up from my nap, I jumped into the shower quickly to wash myself; as soon as I came out, I was grabbed by Nudge and forced into her room – which I struggled mightily hard to get out of, may I add.

"But, _Max!_" she whined, like a persistent little kid. And to think, schools _encouraged _all this never-give-up bull. I saw it, all the time, teachers telling students to never give in, keep on going. There were loads of posters, too. When Nudge takes over the world, ruthlessly arguing with political leaders, who will be to blame but the education department? "You _promised!_" I swear she was about to stomp her foot. Not that it wouldn't be freaking hilarious - which it _would _- but, what with her scary Nudge-like ominousness, I wasn't in the mood for laughing. More like peeing my pants. "I had _everything _planned out! What's so wrong about fashion and make-up? I _know _I'm kind of obsessed with it, but _normal _teenage girls usually are!" She pouted at me. This is how it always went. First she'd get angry. "_Please _Max!"

"No." I stood my ground, staring blankly into Nudge's eyes, which were watering. _Then _she'd pull out the Bambi eyes.

"_Maaaaaaaax._" This time she actually did stamp her foot. _Next, _she'd pull out her fury again. And then, she'd play the-

"For me and the band, please? The rest of want you to! What about for the fans?"

She'd play the guilt trip. Predictable? Yeah. Resistible? _Just barely. _My decision wavered a tiny little, but I still stuck with my first answer. "No."

"I didn't want to force you into _anything, _but you're not cooperating with me." I looked at Nudge like she was delusional, wondering how the hell she was going to force me into anything. "Ella! Bring the rope!"

My eyes widened. Oh, hell _no_.

So much for predictability.

I made a wild dash for Nudge's bedroom door, but, sadly, Ella chose that time to come in with a handful of weird looking rope. (Honestly, I don't even think it _was _rope.)

"I'll give you one last chance," Nudge said, as if she were a detective. Scary thought... "You either come willingly, or I will have to force you."

I gave her the 'what the heck?' look before stubbornly crossing my arms again and raising my head high. "No."

That's when two 15 year old girls pounced on me, forced me into a chair, and tied me up. If anyone else was there, I would've been utterly humiliated. Heck, I was completely embarrassed with just the two girls there.

"Now," Ella mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. _Uh-oh... _"What should we do?"

For the next forty-five minutes, I had to endure the horrid game of getting a make-over. My head was pulled this way and that, and I threatened by my younger sisters that if I didn't shut up and stop trying to wriggle free that they would rearrange my whole closet. With dresses. And skirts. And many other torturous stuff.

So, Maximum Martinez was silenced in honour of keeping her clothes un-girl-ified.

Luckily, the two monsters didn't change me themselves; they sent me into the toilet with my hands wrapped around the clothes I had to wear for tonight. NOT picked by yours truly.

As I finished dressing, I glanced into the mirrored and stared, shocked.

The girl staring back had light powder on her cheeks; she had a tiny bit of black eyeliner under her eyes that made them stand out; she had mascara on her eyelashes that made them look longer than they were and her eye lids were the perfect colour of purple. Her dirty blonde hair was straightened down her back.

She was clothed in dark, ripped skinny jeans, navy blue high top converse, and a navy blue tank top with a black leather jacket to go over top.

This could not be me - _surely_ not.

But it was.

I took a little bit more time looking at myself, then decided I should head back out to the two devils.

They were waiting eagerly outside the door, their mouths turned up in smiles as they waited for me to say something about the outfit and look.

"Eh," I uttered with a shrug as I walked out of their bedroom door and to the front of the house.

I wasn't about to tell them that I liked the look. A _tiny _bit.

* * *

The bar was packed with loads of people. Everyone was laughing and chatting loudly to one another when we arrived. We were ushered into the back room to get ready for our first song, though, before I could take full stock of our crowd.

Ella and Nudge were really excited for the gig, since we hadn't had one for a couple of weeks, whereas J.J. and I were laid back, and went with the flow of what was gonna happen.

"I have arrived!" announced a jovial Iggy, as he came into the room with he's arms spread wide. I heard a little giggle and instantly knew it was Ella who had let it slip, but I decided to ignore it so I wouldn't embarrass her.

I was about to say s… so… sorry to Iggy for earlier, but stopped short when I realized Fang was behind him. He had changed his clothes, but kept the similar image; black. He kind of blended in with the background. Not that I minded the _lack_ of fangirls that would surround him...

"And so has Mr. Silent!" Iggy proclaimed, with a flourishing gesture towards Fang, who nodded his head in acknowledgement. Again, was he the _only _one who could pull that off without seeming try-hard?

Before I done anything stupid – like, stare openly at Fang – I grabbed hold of Iggy's arm a nodded towards the corner. He followed without complaint, catching my hand and rubbing it before letting go.

"I'm sorry for being rude earlier," I told him quietly. Another thing that Maximum Martinez does not do but only to her brother – apologize nicely.

"It's okay," he said assuringly.

"You were only being nice and asking if I was okay; I shouldn't have told you to leave me alone – you're a part of this, too."

"It's fine, Max." He gave me a small smile.

Hesitating ever so slightly, I reached my arms up and wrapped them around his neck in a hug. "I love you, Igster," I whispered.

"I love you, too, Maxie," he said back, just as quietly.

We pulled away from each other as we remembered that we had to get back to the others.

Iggy went over to Ella – no surprise - and they started talking about… well, nothing, because Iggy was cracking jokes again. It was actually quite cu-

"Hey, Fang," I said, cutting my train of thought. Nothing is cute to me. Nothing. However sweet Iggy and Ella were together,

I would not do something as lowly as call them _cute._

"Hey," he said quietly, searching my face for something. I avoided his gaze.

"I didn't say goodbye after school, because I had to get back home to do…" What did I have to do? "…laundry! I had to do laundry." Smooth, Max. Smooth.

"Laundry?" Fang's lips twitched.

"Yes! That's all I had to do. The laundry. Nothing else. Nothing _different. _I mean, why would I? I never do anything-"

"You're rambling," he said, seeming amused.

Crap! I laughed awkwardly. "Was I?"

He nodded, his eyes catching mine in some kind of stare off, to see who would show any type of sentimental emotion. His eyes were so dark, they were so hypnotic…

"Come on, Fang!" Iggy broke the little moment we had going by dragging him out of the room. It was only then I noticed we were about to go on stage. I felt flushed after that little stare-off.

"Are you ready, girls?" I asked, composing myself and giving them a huge grin – I couldn't wait – and they all nodded their agreement.

We made our way onto the stage, each of us taking our positions to get ready. I looked behind me and smiled at my band as I adjusted the mic.

"Hey!" I told the crowd who cheered their approval. "My name's Max, and I'm your lead singer. Our band is called 'Queen Me', and the first song we're going to do for you is 'How to Save a Life' by The Fray." My eyes searched for Iggy in the crowd. "This one's for you, Iggy!" I said, as I found him.

**[How to Save a Life by The Fray.]**

_Step one you say we need to talk  
He walks you say sit down it's just a talk  
He smiles politely back at you  
You stare politely right on through  
Some sort of window to your right  
As he goes left and you stay right  
Between the lines of fear and blame  
You begin to wonder why you came_

CHORUS:  
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend  
Somewhere along in the bitterness  
And I would have stayed up with you all night  
Had I known how to save a life

Let him know that you know best  
Cause after all you do know best  
Try to slip past his defense  
Without granting innocence  
Lay down a list of what is wrong  
The things you've told him all along  
And pray to God he hears you  
And pray to God he hears you

I had to close my eyes, so no one could see the glimmer of a tear in the corner of my eye. This song was one of the painful things to remember – but I had to do it. For Iggy and myself.

_CHORUS:  
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend  
Somewhere along in the bitterness  
And I would have stayed up with you all night  
Had I known how to save a life_

As he begins to raise his voice  
You lower yours and grant him one last choice  
Drive until you lose the road  
Or break with the ones you've followed  
He will do one of two things  
He will admit to everything  
Or he'll say he's just not the same  
And you'll begin to wonder why you came

_CHORUS:  
Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend  
Somewhere along in the bitterness  
And I would have stayed up with you all night  
Had I known how to save a life_

The crowd cheered as I finished the last note of the song. I opened my eyes and stared straight at Iggy, who was giving me a proud smile, and I smiled back at him, proud of myself; I never normally get through this song without crying like a little baby.

Which is E-M-B-A-R-R-A-S-S-I-N-G.

But then I caught sight of Fang, who was staring intently at me, so much so that I felt like I wanted to flip him off – but I didn't. We're in public. And he had done nothing wrong, apart from agreeing to come here which meant I nearly had a panic attack.

Yeah, so, not much.

The band and I played a couple more songs. We were getting requests left, right and center, so we felt no need to stop.

Not that we minded, of course - this was our thing. The girls enjoyed it; they loved playing, and all the attention. For me, well, this was an escape.

An escape from the past.

* * *

Iggy, Ella and Nudge walked up front as we headed home; Fang and I stayed back, walking silently next to each other.

"You were good." Fang spoke first. "You sing really well."

"Thanks." I coughed slightly. "People who I used to live round said I sounded like my da-" I cut off abruptly. Why was I about to tell him this? I didn't know him, at all. He was, basically, a complete stranger who I met today.

Fang looked at me quizzically, as if to say 'go on', but I shut my mouth and changed the subject. "That bar was so crowded."

He nodded his agreement and I knew that by the look in his eyes he wasn't going to ask me about what I was going to say; he knew I didn't want to speak about it.

And he was correct.


	5. AN Grrr!

**Arggg, I promised myself I wouldn't do any A/Ns but I thought I owed you guys an explanation for me being MIA.**

**Over the past weeks, I've been doing a lot of revision/studying for my exams which are this week! My granddad also got diagnosed with prostate cancer so we've been worrying about him. My nan also fell ill. And, to top it off, I've had some personal problems. My life sounds like a wreck, doesn't it? I'm half way through the next chapter of Forget Me Not already… So expect a update around next week. ;D**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N Hello guys! I know I posted my little AN just the other day, but I promised I would update… soo here it is! It may not be as good, or as long. But, hey, as long as you have something. ;P**

* * *

"_Get back here!" a deep voice roared through the house._

_The pale little boy stumbled his way up the stairs, pushing open an old door and diving onto the mattress; the only type of furniture inside of the box-shaped room._

_The sound of thundering feet came closer and closer to the little boy, and he could hear the pleading screams of a young girl who was sobbing her heart out. The little boy tried his best not to whimper when the tall, dark figure appeared in the doorway, but he couldn't help it – he was scared. So, so scared._

"_I've told you before not to run away from me," the voice hissed unhappily as the shadow crept forward. A smaller shadow appeared beside the big one, moulding into the larger shape as the little girl clung onto the leg of the big man._

"_No!" she screeched, knowing what was about to come to the little boy who was cowering back in fear. "No!" Her determination was always there, even though she knew the consequences._

_The man grabbed the scruff of the little girl's neck, flinging her into the wall with a loud bang. She crumpled to the floor, sobbing, as she watched on, helpless now that she was injured – even though she would've been no help, anyway._

_The little boy closed his eyes and waited for everything to be over and done with. He waited for the man to have his fun and go. He waited for the soft singing that somehow distracted him enough to fight on and never give up._

_And they all came: one by one. In the exact same order. In the exact same way._

**(Page breeeeaaaak!)**

I woke up, startled, my body jerking into an upright position as I tried to catch my breath. I could feel the beads of sweat dripping down on my forehead and my back.

The nightmare was different every night – but each of them were still of the past. Some were the times when I was happy with my family, although they were still frightening, but most of the nightmares were the torturing ones. The ones I wished I could forget, but can't.

"Max!" Iggy's voice called out from down the hall. "Max! Get your lazy ass up and get ready!" I could hear his footsteps becoming louder and I instantly remembered my recent nightmare. They're exactly the same, I thought.

"I'm coming, Igs! Just getting ready for a shower!" I yelled back to him. I heard a little grunt of a reply before the footsteps descended down the stairs.

With a sigh, I threw my covers back and headed towards my bathroom for a shower, seeing as though I was all sweaty. Not nice at all.

So there I was, having a nice hot shower and someone bursts through the door with a bang. "Max! Hurry up! Get out! You're wasting all the water!" Nudge shrieked.

There are a couple of things I can handle even if I do dislike them being carried out, such as:

A Nudge and Ella forced makeover session.

An Iggy explosion.

Even putting up with Fang's emotionless face.

But no one, _no one_, is allowed to interrupt me while I am showering. That, I cannot handle. Especially when a person such as Nudge, barges in and tells me that I waste the water, when it takes her 45 minutes to wash her hair and when said person just does not shut up.

I mean, that girl can talk for England!

"I mean, I know I use a lot of water, but when it's the morning, Max, couldn't you be a bit considerate? It's only a shower so I don't know why I'm worrying, but I can't have greasy hair for school, Max! Oh, God, I need to get an outfit ready. What should I wear? Maybe that pink top with that pretty little white skirt, but I wore that the other-"

"Nudge!" I shouted, now standing in front of her, clad in my towel. Her mouth snapped shut and she looked at me sheepishly.

"Sorry!" she mumbled, holding her breath to stop the word-flow.

I frowned at her. "Couldn't you have waited until after I had gotten out of the shower to tell me I wasted the water? And what the heck has clothes got to do with this?"

"Clothes have everything to do with this!" she said hotly, arms flailing. "Where did I put that skirt? Oh, Max, you should wear a skirt! All you have in your closet are pants. No dresses and no skirts. I think we need to go shopping."

"No!" I shouted at her. "No skirts, no dresses and no shopping! Never!"

"But…" she started to protest quickly.

"No buts," I warned her darkly. "I am not going anywhere with you to buy dresses and skirts. End of. Now tell me why I wasn't able to have my shower in peace."

"I need to get ready!" was all she said, before running out of the bathroom and into her own bedroom. I shook my head in amusement.

Walking over to my closet, I pulled out the clothes that I was going to wear today. After I dressed I looked at my attire in the mirror; a plain black t-shirt, my light blue ripped skinny jeans and a purple hoodie. My hair was tied up into a messy bun and I had no makeup on my face, unlike last night.

With a yawn, I grabbed my school bag and pounded down the stairs and towards the kitchen that smelt like bacon. I don't know what I'd do without Iggy.

"Morning, Max," Iggy mumbled as I came through the kitchen doors.

"Morning, dog breath," I replied with a smile as I nicked a bit of bacon. Iggy tried to snag the bacon off of me, but I batted his hand away and stuffed the meat into my mouth. I grinned triumphantly as he scowled at me.

"Classy," he muttered under his breath as I belched, while placing the plate of bacon on the table.

After a while, Jeb finally came down in his bath robe and the newspaper, Ella and Nudge came down giggling over something that I didn't even care about.

Until they started looking over at me with mischievous smiles.

"What are you two smiling about? It's getting kind of creepy, you know," I said with my mouth full of chewed up bacon.

"No reason." Ella sent Nudge a secretive smile.

"Ella," I said firmly with a glare.

"Max." She matched my tone.

"You better tell me now, or I'll tell a certain someone sitting around this table what your true feelings towards them are," I threatened with an evil smile.

"You wouldn't," she hissed.

"Oh, I would." Smiling sweetly at her, I slowly turned my head towards Iggy, who sat there with a confused and fearful expression on his face. "Hey, did you know that El-" I was cut off by bacon being shoved into my mouth.

"It's nothing, okay, Max?" Nudge started off. "We're just having a laugh. Together. It's not like we're planning any…" She trailed off with a stern look from Ella. "Anyway, it's nothing for you to worry about." She paused, and for a second, I thought that maybe she would have stopped, but then... "Oh my, we have to go! We're going to be late! Come on you lot, get a move on! Go, go, go!" That was the end of that and we were all pushed out of the door.

Something black caught my eye as I exited our front gate. Fang.

"Hey!" I called down the road to him. He turned at hearing my voice and gave a nod to confirm he had heard me. I ran to catch up with him and smiled when I did. "How are you?"

"Fine." A man of many words…

"Yeah, I'm great too, thanks for asking," I said sarcastically, grinning when I saw his lips twitch.

As we walked silently down the road for a while, my mind drifted back to the dream I had had this morning. I always hated that one; the one where I was helpless, where I couldn't help but seem weak. But I was a kid, I couldn't do much else.

"Max?" Fang's quiet voice disrupted my thinking. I looked over and saw that he was looking at me in an odd fashion.

"What?" I said with a big fake smile.

"What's bothering you?" His eyebrows scrunched together a bit, making him that much hotter.

Forget I even said that.

"Nothing," I said forcefully, way too much out of character. And Fang noticed.

"Tell me." He didn't say it as a question.

I shrugged indifferently. "Just a rough night, that's all. Bad dream." I noticed that we were nearly at school and I almost sighed in relief to get away from this awkward conversation.

"Bad dreams wouldn't make you upset." In only one day, Fang knew what I was like. What I did. How I did it. And it was hot.

"I guess bad dreams conquered me once and for all." Total utter lie. "Oh, look!" I feigned surprise. "We're at school. See you in English, Fang!"

I danced away, literally. Acting as if the conversation never took place, acting as if my life was how it is from the beginning. Running away from the thing that haunts me.

Like I always have. And always will.

I hope.

* * *

**A/N Thank you guys so much for being patient with me! I should have updated sooner but, you know, with everything that happened I couldn't. Anyway, I'll try update quicker! **

**I hope this chapter satisfies you. You get an insight on Max's and Iggy's past.**

**;D**

**See you guys next time! ;P**

**Ohh! And a HUGE thanks you to ISuckAtUsernames! She's an amazing Beta and she's awesome at getting my stories back in time! ;D And she's sooooo patient! ;D THANK YOU! ;D**


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